Currency Review 2019: Quick Equipment Financing

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If your business is looking to finance a new piece of equipment, Currency offers a faster way to get funding.

Currency is a good option for your business if you:

Need to make a relatively large equipment purchase: Currency’s platform offers loans of up to $2 million.

Want your loan needs evaluated by many lenders: The platform is actually a marketplace of lenders that each have specific lending specialties and credit requirements. The idea is to match borrowers to the lender that best fits their needs.

Have solid personal credit and an established business: The marketplace’s minimum requirements call on borrowers to have a personal credit score of at least 585 and at least six months in business and $75,000 in annualized revenue.

Need to fund your equipment purchase within a couple of weeks: Currency can fund on the same day up to two weeks after application.

In this article

How Currency works

When you apply, you submit basic information such as the amount of funding sought, your business type, annual sales and time in business, along with three months of bank statements. As part of the underwriting process, Currency does a soft pull on your personal credit. At the same time, it runs your business through a series of third-party checks to evaluate its creditworthiness. This includes checks with Dun & Bradstreet, the major credit reporting agencies and Tax Guard, which provides your tax records — assuming you have provided them to the service previously.

Currency then compares your profile to a set of criteria that “bakes in” its own requirements and those of the external lenders. This typically narrows it down to the lenders who would lend to you.

Of that group, Currency will select one lender and product with the best rate and terms and present it to you.

Reasons to use Currency

Fast approval and funding

Roughly 60% to 70% of the time, would-be borrowers receive an approval within minutes, says executive vice president Jered Takeuchi, while the rest of the time they’re either denied outright or designated as “pending,” which means Currency will request additional information. It’s quick, so even if you don’t qualify for a loan, you’re not left waiting for the answer. It typically takes 72 hours from the time of application to fund a loan.

Due diligence on equipment

Just before the loan closes, Currency goes through a process to make sure the asset you’re purchasing is as-advertised, Takeuchi says. This usually takes about 24 hours. If everything checks out, Currency works with the vendor on payment terms and disburses the money.

Where Currency falls short

Not for new businesses or borrowers with bad credit

Though Currency includes the criteria of multiple lending partners, the platform still has minimum requirements. Businesses must have at least six months in business and $75,000 in annual revenue, they can’t have a booked a net loss of more than 10% in the previous 12 months, and owners must have a personal credit score of at least 585. Further, if you’ve been in either personal or business bankruptcy before, you’ll have to show proof that you’ve rebuilt your credit scores.

Prepayment penalty and additional fees

The lenders with whom Currency partners have different policies on prepayment, Takeuchi says. Some don’t charge a penalty for paying off your loan early; others do.

Takeuchi estimates that 95% of the loans don’t have an origination fee, though ones considered high-risk may have them. There may be a document fee that can range from $75 to $575, depending on the type of collateral the borrower puts forth.

Business lien and personal guarantee

Currency files a lien that specifically covers the piece of equipment you have financed through the platform, plus the rest of your business’s assets. The lien gives your lender the right to recover your outstanding loan balance if you default. Some of the lender partners also require a personal guarantee, in which the owner pledges personal assets for repayment of the loan in the event of default.

Compare Currency to other lenders

You can use NerdWallet’s small-business loan tool to compare Currency with other lenders. We gauged lender trustworthiness, market scope and user experience, among other factors, and arranged them by categories that include your revenue and how long you’ve been in business.

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